International AIDS Vaccine Group to Start Testing in Uganda

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is to begin testing two HIV vaccines in Uganda soon with the collaboration of the Ugandan government, following an agreement signed in Kampala on Thursday. Under the memorandum of understanding, the two signatories will begin trials for a vaccine to prevent the transmission of HIV. "Under this agreement, IAVI will sponsor the construction of a clinical trial center at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) and sponsor the testing of two different vaccines in a small number of people," said Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Richard Muhinda.

IAVI will work with UVRI to carry out initial studies on 20 to 40 healthy volunteers to test the efficacy of the vaccine DNA-NVA, which is administered by injection. "DNA-NVA uses pieces of DNA of the HIV virus and then uses a vector -- a transport mechanism -- to take these pieces to boost the immune system. It is a way to stimulate immunity without giving safety concerns," IAVI President Seth Berkley said. The DNA-NVA vaccine, jointly developed by Britain's Oxford University and Kenya's University of Nairobi, has previously been tested in Britain and Kenya. The second vaccine, which uses the Salmonella bacteria as a vector and is taken orally, was designed for the United States. It has also been previously tested, but using a different strain of HIV. Uganda previously took part in one of these trials. Vaccine research and development accounts for 2 percent of the $20 billion dollars the world spends each year on AIDS prevention, research and treatment, according to IAVI.

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